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Submission + - Head of MS Research on Special Projects, Google X and Win 9 (digitaltrends.com)

Submitted by Velcroman1
Velcroman1 writes: Microsoft Research finally earned some long-overdue headlines last week, when ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reported on a “Special Projects” group that would tackle disruptive technology and ultimately Google X. Peter Lee, head of the division and its 1,100 researchers, told Digital Trends he’s not frustrated by all of that glowing press for Google’s researchers and the lack of attention for MSR. “Frustrating is not quite the right word,” Lee said, in an interview ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for MSR’s New York City office. “I like Google X. The people there are good friends of mine. Astro [Teller, “Captain of Moonshots” with Google X] took classes from me at Carnegie Mellon, he’s a great guy doing great stuff. But the missions are different. We want to make things better and ship them. That will always be primary for us. It will be secondary for them.”

Submission + - Eve Online's Space Economy Currently Worth $18 million (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: According to the lead economist of CCP Games, developer of Eve Online, the total amount of ISK in the system at the moment is 600 trillion, which equates to about $18 million in real world money — and the economist believes we could learn a lot from how the economy works in the game.

Submission + - ARM Unveils New Server Architecture And Next-Gen 64-Bit Mobile Performance (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: ARM recently held a tech day in Austin, TX and during the three-day session, the company covered a wide range of topics, with a primary focus on server ecosystems and next-generation mobile hardware. ARM gave an in-depth exploration of its new CCN-508 server interconnect. AMD and Intel don't really have an analogous chip to this. Think of the CCN-508 as the hub that all other CPUs, GPUs, ethernet, CPU cache, and other components connect to. The "cache coherent network" architecture ARM is introducing here offers a 128-bit bus that provides a total of 230GB/s of sustained bandwidth with up to 360GB/s burst bandwidth available. Representatives from Red Hat and Canonical also discussed their respective efforts in bringing up the software stacks required to make ARM an equal player with x86 in the server world, and HP was on-hand to discuss Project Moonshot, its initiative to build a dense server product around ARM and x86 cores. Finally, ARM also noted that 2014 will be the year that Android starts to seriously make an effort in 64-bit evolution as well. Benchmark data was offered, claiming impressive boosts for various workloads in tests like Geekbench, with the Cortex-A57 expected to deliver between 12 — 33% faster performance in 64-bit mode.

Submission + - Why NSA Spying On China Made A Louisiana Sheriff's Pension Fund Mad (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Here's a weird tale that demonstrates a lot about the world's economic interdependence. A pension for retired sherrif's in Louisiana had invested in IBM stock, but then sued the company, saying the company should've known its participation in the NSA's secret PRISM program would hurt its sales to China. Though the fund ultimately withdrew the lawsuit, it seems a sign that economic harm can ripple through society in weird directions — and pushback can come from strange places too

Submission + - Google Now Gets Smarter (And Maybe A Bit Creepier) (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Forgot where you parked your car? Thanks to an updated version of Google Now pushed out yesterday, your Android phone now remembers when you got out of a moving vehicle and can tell you when you walk by the same spot. Were you looking for a specific blender with Google Search? Google Now will let you know if you're walking by a store that carries it. Did a friend email you about a lunch date? Google Now will tell you when you need to leave to get there. This is convenient, but the fact that Google Now does all these things without being asks is more than a little creepy.

Submission + - "Virtual Periscope" Could Let Submarines See Up Through the Water's Surface (gizmag.com) 1

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: It's a classic scene from many a war movie – a submarine's presence is given away by its periscope protruding through the surface of the water. If submariners want to see what's up there, however, they really have no choice ... although that may be about to change. Scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have devised a system that allows an underwater camera to look up through the surface from below, with a minimum of distortion.

Submission + - Police Departments Using Car Tracking Database Sworn to Secrecy (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Vigilant Solutions, maintains what they claim is the nation’s largest database of license-plate tracking data, "LEARN" (Law Enforcement Archival and Reporting Network). But when a law enforcement agency signs up to use the database, they are sworn to keep it secret. The reason? They are quite clear about that: "to prohibit users from cooperating with any media outlet to bring attention to LEARN or LEARN-NVLS."

So, they're tracking you (they're tracking everybody)... but they don't want you to know.

The agreement, uncovered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, states: You shall not create, publish, distribute, or permit any written, electronically transmitted or other form of publicity material that makes reference to LEARN or this Agreement without first submitting the material to LEARN-NVLS and receiving written consent from LEARN-NVLS. This prohibition is specifically intended to prohibit users from cooperating with any media outlet to bring attention to LEARN or LEARN-NVLS. Breach this provision may result in LEARN-NVLS immediately termination of this Agreement upon notice to you."

...Immediately after WIRED published the story, though, the agreement mysteriously changed. The secrecy provision is still there, but the statement that it's "specifically intended" to prevent the media attention has vanished.

Submission + - Anti Virus Is Dead (But Still Makes Money) Says Symantec (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by judgecorp
judgecorp writes: Symantec says anti virus is dead but the company — the world's largest IT security firm — still makes 40 percent of its revenue there. AV now lets through around 55 percent of attacks, the company's senior vice president of information security told the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, other security firms including FireEye, RedSocks and Imperva are casting doubt on AV, suggesting a focus on data loss prevention might be better.

Submission + - Polio Declared Emergency as Conflicts Fuel Virus Spread (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: "The spread of polio to countries previously considered free of the crippling disease is a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said, as the virus once driven to the brink of extinction mounts a comeback.

Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria pose the greatest risk of exporting the virus to other countries, and should ensure that residents have been vaccinated before they travel, the Geneva-based WHO said in a statement today after a meeting of its emergency committee. It’s only the second time the United Nations agency has declared a public health emergency of international concern, after the 2009 influenza pandemic

Polio has resurged as military conflicts from Sudan to Pakistan disrupt vaccination campaigns, giving the virus a toehold. The number of cases reached a record low of 223 globally in 2012 and jumped to 417 last year, according to the WHO. There have been 74 cases this year, including 59 in Pakistan, during what is usually polio’s “low season,” the WHO said. "

Submission + - Internet Transit Provider Claims ISPs Deliberately Allow Port Congestion

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Level 3, an internet transit provider, claimed in a recent blog post that six ISPs that it regularly does business with have refused to de-congest most of their interconnect ports. 'Congestion that is permanent, has been in place for well over a year and where our peer refuses to augment capacity.' Five of the six ISPs that Level 3 refers to are in the U.S., and one is in Europe. Not surprisingly, 'the companies with the congested peering interconnects also happen to rank dead last in customer satisfaction across all industries in the U.S. Not only dead last, but by a massive statistical margin of almost three standard deviations.' Ars Technica reports that ISPs have also demanded that transit providers like Level 3 pay for access to their networks in the same manner as fringe service providers like Netflix.

Submission + - Rare Earthquake Warning Issued for Oklahoma (livescience.com)

Submitted by randomErr
randomErr writes: Mile for mile, there are almost as many earthquakes rattling Oklahoma as California this year. This major increase in seismic shaking led to a rare earthquake warning today (May 5) from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Geological Survey. Geologists don't know when or where the state's next big earthquake will strike, nor will they put a number on the increased risk.

Submission + - Richard Stallman Answers Your Questions

Submitted by samzenpus
samzenpus writes: A while ago you had the chance to ask GNU and Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman about GNU, copyright laws, digital restrictions management, and software patents. Below you'll find his answers to those questions.

Submission + - U.S. government to study Bitcoin as possible terrorist threat

Submitted by randomErr
randomErr writes: The US Department of Defense is investigating whether Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are a potential terrorist threat. The Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO), a division within DOD that identifies and develops counter terrorism abilities and investigates irregular warfare and evolving threats, has listed Bitcoin among its topics for research and mission critical analysis related to terrorism.

Submission + - Did The Ignition Key Just Die?

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: Do you still use a metal key to start your vehicle? We already knew this was old tech at this point, but now it might fully be killed off. In the wake of General Motors' "Switchgate" fiasco, we've heard the CEO tell a Congressional committee that the recall may force GM to ditch ignition keys altogether in favor of push-button systems. If this became a reality, it would end decades of complaints from customers. Bloomberg approximates at least 18,000 complaints have been filed since NHTSA was formed in 1970, peaking at more than 2,000 in the year 2000. Those complaints resulted in roughly 21 million vehicles being recalled. The push-button ignition isn't perfect, but we know electrical trumps mechanical more often than not. Are you ready for an era where the ignition key doesn't exist?

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